The company behind a proposed whisky distillery in the Ardgowan Estate near Inverkip has launched a £17m fundraising drive.

Ardgowan Distillery Company said the site secured planning permission from Inverclyde Council earlier in March and it is now looking to raise finance to fund development and early operating costs.

The company, set up in June of last year by engineers Alan Baker and Martin McAdam, plans to resurrect the Ardgowan Distillery name at a former sawmill site on the estate.

The Ardgowan Estate is near Inverkip

The original distillery, founded in Greenock in 1896, was destroyed in the May Blitz of 1941.

Ardgowan has to date raised more than £500,000 in seed funding from around 20 private investors.

It will now look to raise funds in a mix of debt, equity and public grant support.

The company said it has made an application to the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme - jointly funded by the Scottish Government and the EU - as well as other potential public grant schemes.

Read More

Alan Baker is a former chief executive of renewable energy company Airtricity (Scotland) and has worked with Ardgowan Estate for the past decade developing energy projects with its trustees.

Martin McAdam is a former chief executive of wave energy company Aquamarine Power and was a founder shareholder in Kingsbarns distillery in Fife which was acquired by the Weymss family in 2010.

Martin McAdam

Ardgowan plans to raise £12 million of development funding with a view to starting construction later this year, and a further £5 million to fund three years of operating cost to take the distillery from operational in 2019 to the launch of its first four-year-old malt in 2023.

The company said initial annual production will be around 200,000 litres of pure alcohol (LPA), rising to more than 800,000 LPA at full production with options to also expand production to 1.6 million LPA “with limited additional investment”.

Ardgowan has now appointed chartered accountants Campbell Dallas to advise on the fund raise.

Ardgowan has also brought in former Bruichladdich and Diageo veterans Gordon Wright and Michael Egan to its board in commercial and product engineering advisory roles.

Ardgowan chairman and former managing director of The Macallan, Willie Phillips, said: “We are planning to build an outstanding distillery of significant scale to make a lowland single malt that will have a distinctive taste and flavour given its proximity to the sea.

“Our flagship will be a premium seven year old single malt which I anticipate will establish Ardgowan as a single malt of great character.”

Murdoch McLennan, head of brewing and distilling at Campbell Dallas, said: “Whisky distilleries are a well-recognised investment opportunity which can achieve strong capital returns and dividend distribution in the medium to long term.

“The Ardgowan Estate, where the distillery will be located, is within easy commuting distance from Glasgow and has tremendous historic connections going back hundreds of years.

“There is a good water supply and the distillery and visitor centre will be a natural step on a malt whisky route to Campbeltown and the island distilleries.

“The first spirit will be produced in 2019 and the total funding requirement is approximately £17 million, which will cover the construction, commissioning and the first three years’ production costs.

“In common with other investments of this type, the distillery is anticipating a mixture of equity, debt funding and public grant support.

“Investment will qualify for EIS tax relief for UK investors, and the Ardgowan Distillery will appeal to high net worth individuals, family offices, overseas investors and companies within the whisky supply chain.”